Boston Calling

Just as I was about to bite into my Big & Tasty last night, my cell rang with a Restricted number. I was starving but figured I’d better answer it. I’m glad I did. It was the Boston neuro. She had gotten the neuropsych report and read through it. She was as frustrated as I was and for the same reason.

When I first learned about having a neuropsych eval done, I was told it would tell us a lot, especially how to help Austin.

King said it best in his comment yesterday “The program/method is really dictated by what is learned by the child’s learning style. It takes time to figure out what the learning style is. This is figured by watching patterns in difficulty and strengths.”

This is exactly what I was told to expect from the neuropsych report. A “this is what’s wrong and this is how to help him” type answer. Boston neuro expected the exact same thing.

And we didn’t get it.

So the plan, Boston neuro will submit the neuropsych eval to the Boston neuropsych. The hope is just by reading it she can figure out some suggestions for helping Austin by using his strengths to bolster his weaknesses. If the report is not enough, then we will plan to go to Boston to meet with their neuropsych.

2 Responses

I have never been a big believer in the neuro phsych eval because everyone of mine says something different. The other problem is that a couple of them never really picked up on what the problem really was. The eval also never created any accommodations for me that really worked for me in the classroom. They only ever ended up to be hypothetical suggestions. People stuck to just the accommodations recommendations in the neuro eval and the IEP. Overtime, the needs of the student changes and the types of accommodations change as the student grows. This is the neuro phsych evals big flaw because it only looks at a child for a few hours. Unless the child is in the exact setting for a prolonged period you will never get to see what is really happening. The neuro physch eval will give you a base line and it will also tell you where to begin. I would suggest to revisit the types of accommodations your son gets every year. See to it that they get written down in the IEP and other documents. The more that is documented the more success you have at continuing to get those services. As I said, even if you use that accommodation once don’t ever let it out of the documentation. My greatest ally in getting accommodations after a while was my neurologist. We had many conversations about school and he was able to help me more then any neuro eval ever could. He was the greatest educational asset I have. You said the other day that you have an OHI label for your son. This has its great benefits. For a few reasons, first you can pack an eval full of stuff you need or think you will need for your son The label is vague and targets many different areas. This is a plus when it comes to future needs.